Meet Hortense, a Sacred Ritual Earthy Friend

Hortense introduced themselves to me as I listened to a favorite teacher of mine dive into the symbolism of Jack and the Beanstalk. No wonder I was drawn to yellows and greens for this mandala.

Hortense, meaning garden, is a 6-inch by 6-inch canvas board that can either go on your wall as a pretty artifact, on your witchy or spiritual altar to bring transformation and divine ascent, or as a divination tool.

Intricately weaving together earthy symbolism of flowers, plants, and water, Hortense brings a calm and joyful presence. Where in your life would you like more strength? Stability? Nurturing?

You can place a crystal grid or candle on them on your altar, or you can just have them present.

To work with them for divination, you have a number of options! Here are a few I’ve thought of:

• Gather a set of trinkets (bones, dice, charms, anything!) to use for cleromancy. Determine what symbolism you’ll tap into: Perhaps the middle yellow will represent fire or movement or the sun, and the pink flower is earth, while the next two rows out are earth and water.

• Use a pendulum. Determine where yes/no/maybe live on the image. Or assign different outcomes to different quarters or parts of the image and see where the pendulum points.

• Pull a Tarot card and place it on Hortense. Contemplate how the earthy flower symbolism works with the Tarot card and provides additional context. Maybe you ask “How can I grow roots?” or “How can I bring more ‘flowers’ into my life?”

Hortense was made using a canvas board, acrylic paint, posca pens, azteca markers, sparkle gel pens, and Jack and the Beanstalk. She's finished with cold wax, buffed to a shine. Grow those resources!